Hey Jake.

Yuppers, the "can" is a solenoid. Kinda looks like a bad "Robbie the robot".

As it turns out I did put a piece of 10 gauge from starter batt to aux.

Thanks!

Neil.

On 4/11/07, Jake Beaulieu <jbeaulie@nd.edu> wrote:
> "Is it advisable to run a new 10 gauge red from pos. of starter batt.
> to one end of cut-off relay (switch portion) for aux batt., as opposed
> to using the stock 12 gauge red to supply 12V to same?"
>
> I think people generally prefer to run a wire directly from the positive
> pole of the starter battery to the aux battery.  The rationale is that
> the "stock" wire probably has a longer run length and may go through
> several connectors before supplying current to the aux battery.  This
> additional length and extra connectors translates to lower voltage at the
> aux battery than at the starter battery.  Lower voltage limits how well
> your aux battery get charged.  By running a beefy wire directly from the
> starter battry to the aux battery you deliver a good voltage to the aux
> battery.  The size of the wire you use depends on how much current you
> want to be able to deliver to the aux battery.  There is a post in the
> archives where somebody measured a deeply discharged Optima deep cycle
> pulling 50amps.  I don't think you are going to see much more than that.
> There are tables on the net that display the relationship between wire
> gauge, run length, and the max current that the wire can handle.  You
> should double check this, but I am pretty sure that a short run of 10gauge
> wire can handle over 50amps.  This is what I used in my van.
>
> BTW I think the "can" is a solenoid.  Check out the solenoid that GoWesty
> supplies for aux batteries (http://tinyurl.com/3carma).  Does it look like
> the little can in the picture?
>

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia.

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil